Free Wrath by Kaylee Song

through the countryside at night?” he asked.
    “No,” I answered.
    “Maybe we’ll do that sometime.” Whatever dark thoughts had been passing through his head were now gone, replaced by a boyish grin.  I let it wipe away all my troubles too, and I shook my head.
    “Sure you don’t want to skip work? Hang out?”
    “You keep trying to convince me, but I really do have to get back,” I said, my voice much gentler now – a rain check rather than a rejection.
    “Okay.  But tonight I want to take you the long way.”
    I nodded, glad for the excuse to spend more time with him. 
    That was my first mistake.
     

Emma
     
    He was there waiting for me when I got out of work.  I was sweaty and exhausted, and not even prepared to deal with going home.  It was a shock to see him then, standing in the parking lot, staring at me with those intense grey eyes of his.
    My heart skipped a beat, and my stomach fluttered as I walked towards him. 
    Walk , I told myself, do not run .  I wanted to sprint across the parking lot and leap onto that ridiculous bike like a giddy fool, ask him to drive and drive and never look back.  Instead, I focused on walking straight.  My legs had gotten a little weaker when I saw him.
    He must’ve guessed that because before I even got there he hopped back on his bike and revved the engine, holding out a hand to help me on.
    “Hold on, darlin’.”  He handed me a helmet and put another over his head.
    So he did listen to me when I asked him to get one.
    I beamed, my smile bright as sunlight on chrome.  He must’ve gone right out and got it.  This tickled me pink.  It seemed that under all that bad boy appeal there was still a little bit of a sweet man.  I won’t lie: something about the combination of attentive and dangerous at once turned me on. 
    I put on the helmet and slung myself over the bike like a pro, holding on tight to his body while he sped off down the highway.  My thighs fit around his body like I had been born to sit behind him.  The warmth that spread through me was intoxicating.
    He didn’t bother going towards my dorm - no, he took off in the opposite direction, heading off towards Route 50, down south of the city. 
    I should’ve been concerned, but I wasn’t.  Not at all.  I just wanted to feel him pressed up against my body.  And as we ran parallel to the Monongahela River, speeding into the water-cooled wind, that is exactly what I did.
    I savored every second.
    I don’t know how long we road in the dark, his lone headlight guiding the way, but the last thing I wanted to do when we reached our destination was talk.  It was incredible, a true high, holding back all that desire – and feeling so certain he was playing the same game.
    What would happen when the dam broke?  What would we do?
    I bit my wind-dried lips and held on tight. 
    The night was beautiful and frightening, but in the best sort of way.  We whipped around the curves alongside the river.  I held on as tight as I could each time the bike tilted, enjoying the pressure of gravity and speed.  There was something magical about it all, as if nothing bad could happen to us so long as his hands were on the handles and my arms were around his chest.  It was as if we were invincible.
    He pulled into a little parking lot off along the river.  It existed so that boaters and kayakers could enter the water, but it was well-kept and absolutely gorgeous under the night sky. 
    I climbed off the bike in a daze, in awe of it all.
    The gravel and sand were lit by the moon and licked with so many shadows.  The air was quiet enough for the soft rush of the water to fill our ears like satin, while the crickets chimed and clicked in percussion.
    I couldn’t have said if Wrath understood the beauty of it, but I was in love with the moment. 
    “Thought you might need a little time to unwind before I took you back to the dorm,” he murmured in my ear, pulling the helmet off my head.
    My hair had to